Chapter 3
Keyes
15 minutes later, the first of the Pelicans arrived at base camp. The rest of the team and I boarded the first one we saw, eager to help. I was feeling good, having abandoned my pistol for the shiny Assault Rifle, until a Marine struck up a conversation.
"Hey, you guys can't be older than 13. Who are you?" He asked us.
I thought quickly. "Uh.we're.a special project, developed by the Army. We're genetically enhanced to be as good as you." I said. The others nodded in agreement.
"Eh.they really shouldn't put kids on a battlefield. You guys have your whole lives to live."
"Well, we'd rather be out here then living our lives. Is that clear?" Nick butted in angrily.
"Yes, sir." The marine said, unsure how to react.
"Good." Nick said. The rest of the 200-mile trip was in silence. Dusk fell halfway there. Marines pulled open panels at the bottom of the pelican and brought out what looked like extensions to their chairs, clipped them on, and sprawled out asleep. We did the same, but didn't sleep. We weren't going to be thought of as lazy. But as the night went on, most of the team dozed off, including me.
* * * * *
"Wake up, Marines! We're ETA 5 minutes from our target!" A voice shouted over the intercom. We all awoke with a start, not feeling sleepy. I reloaded my AR and polished the barrel. Chaos individually selected the best looking shotgun shells and pushed them into his gun. Black Sabbath also loaded his AR. Andromeda was busy making sure her sniper rifle barrel was straight and cleaning the lens. Tiny was loading his pistol. All around us, we could see Marines in other Pelicans doing the same.
"Listen up, ya'll!" another voice said "The Master Chief is taking a squad of Marines up to the Cruiser to take out any stranglers by the gravity lift. We will land as we are needed. Foe Hammer out."
Our Pelican hovered at about 500 feet above and about a kilometer from the cruiser. I was amazed it didn't see us. We waited there for what seemed like hours. Then the call came in.
"Foe Hammer, this is Cortana. The Master Chief needs reinforcements inside the cruiser. I'm sending you coordinates. Cortana out." This was it, the big moment. Would we fail, die trying to get out of the game? Or would we prevail and see our families again? It all depended upon the first step. And from here that first step was looking pretty dangerous. Our Pelican landed inside the cruiser, disrupting my thoughts.
"Pile out! Go go go! The corps isn't paying us by the hour!" A Marine shouted. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as we climbed out of the Pelican. Then I saw him. The Master Chief. The main character in the entire game. The guy you play as. The guy that would save the galaxy from the Halo threat. He just stood there in his spiffy green armor while we piled out. Cortana gave us directions but I wasn't listening. I knew this place by heart any day. I could do this crap in my sleep. Nothing would stop me or my team. Then the Hunters walked into the hanger.
"AHHHH!" I head somebody scream. I wasn't listening. I was firing every bullet I had at the Hunters. Behind me, Black Sabbath was doing the same. Tiny was aiming for their heads, looking for a weak spot. Andromeda, having only her rifle, took cover and lobbed grenades at them. Nothing was having any effect. The Hunters stood their ground and fired round after round of plasma cannon shots at us. One grazed the top of my helmet, singing it. One caught Tiny in the foot. Amid all this chaos, a thought burst through. Where was Chaos?
I looked around, but I didn't see him. With a feeling of dread, I thought he might have been killed. We continued firing. One Hunter went down. The other took cover and shot at us at regular intervals. Then it started throwing grenades at us!
"We are so doomed." I heard Black Sabbath say. Then, out of nowhere, the Hunter seemed to explode in a flash of green. When the smoke cleared, we saw the Hunter had fallen, and Chaos was standing behind it, a huge plasma cannon on his shoulder. He dropped it with a loud thud, and picked up his shotgun.
"Well, what are you staring at?" He said with a grin, "Lets go!" None of us were in a mood to say anything. We holstered our weapons and ran after him.
"We're very close to the brig, where Keyes is being held." Cortana said out of the Master Chief's helmet speakers. She paused for a second. "I'm sending you a map of the cruiser to your helmets, Marines." The green screen that I had ignored in front of my face for so long illuminated and displayed our current position in the cruiser, with the captain marked as a dot.
"Huh.handy." I heard Andromeda mutter. We turned the corner and ran down the corridor, following the Master Chief, Cortana giving him Nav points all the way. We encountered very little Covenant resistance, which I found odd. I had long since abandoned my Assault Rifle for a Plasma Rifle, which I found worked better. The team had also picked up plasma grenades, including me. The minutes ticked by. Maybe the heat of the suit was getting to me, but it seemed like we just had to save the Captain, like his life really mattered, and this wasn't all just a game.
"Thanks a lot, Bungie." I muttered, shaking my head. Then the door in front of us opened and we were in. There was no guard.
"Well, that's bad." Nick said to us. "There are supposed to be 2 cloaked Elites in here.
"Hey, I'm not complaining." I said to him. The Chief switched off the force fields, and the captain and some captured Marines walked out of the cells. I threw a needler to the Captain. He caught it and grinned at me. I raised an eyebrow. Perhaps my face was covered with so much stuff, he couldn't tell I wasn't a full-grown Marine. Then again, he kept shooting strange looks at Nick.
Keyes gave the Marines and the Chief some pep talk, which we had already heard a thousand times anyway. Once he had finished, we moved back to the bridge of the cruiser, where Cortana radioed for evac.
"Cortana to Echo 419. We have the captain and need extraction on the double."
"Negative Cortana, I've been engaged by Covenant air patrols, and I'm having' a tough time shakin' 'em. You'll be better off finding your own ride. Sorry." After she said this, Cortana said some stuff to Keyes, but we weren't listening. We knew that we we're almost out of here. Once we started heading toward the docking bay, there was a whole lot of Covenant resistance. It was normal to see at least 2 or 3 Elites at a time. By the time our team got to the docking bay, we were all nursing small wounds, some not so small. Andromeda was massaging a burn on her forearm, and Tiny was trying to pick small pieces of shrapnel from his face from a grenade.
The chief released the clamps from a Covenant dropship, and we rocketed out of the docking bay, dodging plasma all the while. I had never been inside a Covenant dropship before, but I strongly never want to be in one again, to say the least.
Keyes
15 minutes later, the first of the Pelicans arrived at base camp. The rest of the team and I boarded the first one we saw, eager to help. I was feeling good, having abandoned my pistol for the shiny Assault Rifle, until a Marine struck up a conversation.
"Hey, you guys can't be older than 13. Who are you?" He asked us.
I thought quickly. "Uh.we're.a special project, developed by the Army. We're genetically enhanced to be as good as you." I said. The others nodded in agreement.
"Eh.they really shouldn't put kids on a battlefield. You guys have your whole lives to live."
"Well, we'd rather be out here then living our lives. Is that clear?" Nick butted in angrily.
"Yes, sir." The marine said, unsure how to react.
"Good." Nick said. The rest of the 200-mile trip was in silence. Dusk fell halfway there. Marines pulled open panels at the bottom of the pelican and brought out what looked like extensions to their chairs, clipped them on, and sprawled out asleep. We did the same, but didn't sleep. We weren't going to be thought of as lazy. But as the night went on, most of the team dozed off, including me.
* * * * *
"Wake up, Marines! We're ETA 5 minutes from our target!" A voice shouted over the intercom. We all awoke with a start, not feeling sleepy. I reloaded my AR and polished the barrel. Chaos individually selected the best looking shotgun shells and pushed them into his gun. Black Sabbath also loaded his AR. Andromeda was busy making sure her sniper rifle barrel was straight and cleaning the lens. Tiny was loading his pistol. All around us, we could see Marines in other Pelicans doing the same.
"Listen up, ya'll!" another voice said "The Master Chief is taking a squad of Marines up to the Cruiser to take out any stranglers by the gravity lift. We will land as we are needed. Foe Hammer out."
Our Pelican hovered at about 500 feet above and about a kilometer from the cruiser. I was amazed it didn't see us. We waited there for what seemed like hours. Then the call came in.
"Foe Hammer, this is Cortana. The Master Chief needs reinforcements inside the cruiser. I'm sending you coordinates. Cortana out." This was it, the big moment. Would we fail, die trying to get out of the game? Or would we prevail and see our families again? It all depended upon the first step. And from here that first step was looking pretty dangerous. Our Pelican landed inside the cruiser, disrupting my thoughts.
"Pile out! Go go go! The corps isn't paying us by the hour!" A Marine shouted. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as we climbed out of the Pelican. Then I saw him. The Master Chief. The main character in the entire game. The guy you play as. The guy that would save the galaxy from the Halo threat. He just stood there in his spiffy green armor while we piled out. Cortana gave us directions but I wasn't listening. I knew this place by heart any day. I could do this crap in my sleep. Nothing would stop me or my team. Then the Hunters walked into the hanger.
"AHHHH!" I head somebody scream. I wasn't listening. I was firing every bullet I had at the Hunters. Behind me, Black Sabbath was doing the same. Tiny was aiming for their heads, looking for a weak spot. Andromeda, having only her rifle, took cover and lobbed grenades at them. Nothing was having any effect. The Hunters stood their ground and fired round after round of plasma cannon shots at us. One grazed the top of my helmet, singing it. One caught Tiny in the foot. Amid all this chaos, a thought burst through. Where was Chaos?
I looked around, but I didn't see him. With a feeling of dread, I thought he might have been killed. We continued firing. One Hunter went down. The other took cover and shot at us at regular intervals. Then it started throwing grenades at us!
"We are so doomed." I heard Black Sabbath say. Then, out of nowhere, the Hunter seemed to explode in a flash of green. When the smoke cleared, we saw the Hunter had fallen, and Chaos was standing behind it, a huge plasma cannon on his shoulder. He dropped it with a loud thud, and picked up his shotgun.
"Well, what are you staring at?" He said with a grin, "Lets go!" None of us were in a mood to say anything. We holstered our weapons and ran after him.
"We're very close to the brig, where Keyes is being held." Cortana said out of the Master Chief's helmet speakers. She paused for a second. "I'm sending you a map of the cruiser to your helmets, Marines." The green screen that I had ignored in front of my face for so long illuminated and displayed our current position in the cruiser, with the captain marked as a dot.
"Huh.handy." I heard Andromeda mutter. We turned the corner and ran down the corridor, following the Master Chief, Cortana giving him Nav points all the way. We encountered very little Covenant resistance, which I found odd. I had long since abandoned my Assault Rifle for a Plasma Rifle, which I found worked better. The team had also picked up plasma grenades, including me. The minutes ticked by. Maybe the heat of the suit was getting to me, but it seemed like we just had to save the Captain, like his life really mattered, and this wasn't all just a game.
"Thanks a lot, Bungie." I muttered, shaking my head. Then the door in front of us opened and we were in. There was no guard.
"Well, that's bad." Nick said to us. "There are supposed to be 2 cloaked Elites in here.
"Hey, I'm not complaining." I said to him. The Chief switched off the force fields, and the captain and some captured Marines walked out of the cells. I threw a needler to the Captain. He caught it and grinned at me. I raised an eyebrow. Perhaps my face was covered with so much stuff, he couldn't tell I wasn't a full-grown Marine. Then again, he kept shooting strange looks at Nick.
Keyes gave the Marines and the Chief some pep talk, which we had already heard a thousand times anyway. Once he had finished, we moved back to the bridge of the cruiser, where Cortana radioed for evac.
"Cortana to Echo 419. We have the captain and need extraction on the double."
"Negative Cortana, I've been engaged by Covenant air patrols, and I'm having' a tough time shakin' 'em. You'll be better off finding your own ride. Sorry." After she said this, Cortana said some stuff to Keyes, but we weren't listening. We knew that we we're almost out of here. Once we started heading toward the docking bay, there was a whole lot of Covenant resistance. It was normal to see at least 2 or 3 Elites at a time. By the time our team got to the docking bay, we were all nursing small wounds, some not so small. Andromeda was massaging a burn on her forearm, and Tiny was trying to pick small pieces of shrapnel from his face from a grenade.
The chief released the clamps from a Covenant dropship, and we rocketed out of the docking bay, dodging plasma all the while. I had never been inside a Covenant dropship before, but I strongly never want to be in one again, to say the least.